James Bond: Licence to park
Last week I was present at the launch of the new Bond in Motion exhibition at the Beaulieu National Motor Museum. It was a lavish affair, complete with champagne, celebrities and people who were generally dressed in much smarter clothes than I. Almost immediately I was greeted by the sight of Britt Ekland sprawled across the bonnet of an Aston Martin. Then, within a matter of minutes, I caught sight of Esther Rantzen, Colin Salmond and Eunice Gayson. I don’t recall Esther Rantzen ever being a Bond girl. Maybe she was in the concept film, Live and That’s Life?
Once the tour of the Bond vehicles was complete, I did my customary wander around the car park. You may remember that I spent a quite delightful couple of hours looking around the car park at the Goodwood Festival of Speed?
Truth be told, there weren’t as many delights to be found at Beaulieu, but considering the number of cars there, the proportion of interesting motors was probably just as high. These are the pick of PetrolBlog.
Peugeot 106 XSI
When was the last time you saw an original and unmodified Peugeot 106 XSI? I bet you can’t remember. Which is why it was such a joy to see such a lovely example at Beaulieu. According to How Many Left?, there are only 332 on the road, with a further 257 classed as SORN. Only 332 on the road?! How many of those are as beautifully untouched as this one is anyone’s guess, but it’s quite telling that barely a decade ago, there were over 3.5k left in the UK. A rapid decline of a car that is now firmly on PetrolBlog’s radar for 2012. Oh and just check out those yellow fogs. Win!
Subaru Tribeca B9
I’ve never, ever seen a Subaru Tribeca in the wild and quite frankly I’m not sure I’d be in a rush to see another one. Judging by the number plates, it looks like this particular car is owned by the Beaulieu Estate. They can keep it. Still, it’s a rare beast and has to be worth at least 100 points in your I-Spy book of car spotting.
BMW 525e
Ah, this is more like it. An Isle of Wight registered E28 BMW that looks well used and rather lovely. Amazingly, according to How Many Left?, there were 4k of these on the road in the year 2000. Now the number is less than 250. It’s therefore good to see an E28 that’s being kept alive. It’s always been my favourite BMW and it made me hanker for my old M535i. If you own this BMW, please step forward and show yourself. I’ll buy you a pint.
Austin Allegro
This was the first car I noticed as I drove into the car park. Through the powers of twitter, I discovered that it is owned by none other than esteemed journalist, Richard Gunn. It’s a great shame that the film producers never had the foresight to use an Allegro as one of the Bond cars. In my book, it’s one of the greatest missed opportunities of all time.
Chevrolet Camaro
Looking more like a car for a Bond villain than the kind of car 007 would drive himself, the Camaro certainly stood out in the car park.
Volvo S70 T5
A mid-90s Volvo saloon is a car that only a petrolhead will appreciate. The S70 T5 is a fantastic wolf in sheep’s clothing, with a glorious 5-cylinder turbocharged engine that develops 236bhp. What’s more, it will sprint to 60mph in just 6.4 seconds and go on to a top speed of 150mph. It’s the thinking man’s BMW M3, albeit less focused and slightly less sharp than its German rival. This particular example was in wonderful condition and a credit to its owner. It’s never been a particularly common car, with numbers peaking at just 834 in the year 2000. But it’s interesting to note that there are only 353 left on the road today. Like the 106 XSI above, this is a car that is now firmly on the radar for 2012. As folk might say on twitter – ‘#WANT!’.
Ford Mustang
Effortlessly cool. Enough said.
F411 GUY
A Bentley is hardly PetrolBlog fodder, but a stuntman with the number plate F411 GUY gets some respect.
Look out for PetrolBlog reporting from a car park near you soon. We’re also available to hire for weddings, birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs…
14 Comments
I often wonder if history would have viewed the Allegro differently if so many hadn’t been painted in that sort of puss/baby poo browny-orange colour. I’m all for retro colours, even brown, but I can’t imagine how much better that Allegro would look in red, or black, or another sane colour.
Love the Mustang. Like the BMW, it makes me long for cars with small wheels and tall tyres again. XSi is nice too, though I’ve always preferred the Rallye. Quite like the Camaro. Seen a few Tribecas and each one is one too many. The Volvo’s an interesting one, as I think I’d prefer an 850 to an S70. If only for the BTCC connotations.
Agree, I’d prefer a Rallye over an XSI too, but there was something so perfect about the one above. So rare to see an original one.
my name is James Bond and I like my cars…..The best
Always thought the Tribeca was built from a design licensed from Sssssssssssssangyong. Nearly as ugly as the amazing Rodius, but not quite.
Don’t want one but love the Allegro being in the car park. Anyone know how many browns were available in the BL seventies? I seem to remember Triumph had about three.
In the late 80s my mate inherited his grandad’s Triumph Dolomite 1500HL. It had been owned by the old man from new and we could count five different shades of brown on adjoining panels…
Now that sounds VERY BL!
Nice Peugeot, nice Beemer, and thank you for featuring a Volvo S70 T5! Most people go after the estates, and sadly the saloon versions seem to get left at the wayside. The original S40 is my favourite – one of the most beautiful small saloons of the mid-90s, in my opinion.
Also onto I-Spy books – I still have my old collection!
Wow ! This bought back a few automotive memories , in my long and chequered motoring history I was foolish enough to aquire a rather striking orange 1750s Allegro . With the Maxi’s lump and the Allegro’s woefull handling journeys were at best ‘eventfull’ ; in the wet you could walk round corners faster . I also had an ‘L’ series Subaru (a pre-Legacy model) 1.8 AWD turbo , boxer engined monster , a fantastic drivers car even in estate form which regularly showed it’s rear to 1.9 205’s and 2.0 Astra GTE’s and the spec was amazing . Are sharknose Beemers not the most purposefull looking cars ever to grace the roads , and I think early/mid nineties Pugs (especially the TD’s) are great bangernomics at the moment . Last but not least the 850/S/V70 range are my personal all time fave drive ; As Mr Ingram mentioned , my love affair began with the BTCC 855 and I have never felt as comfortable at the wheel as I do with my current ’95 2.5 20v 855 . I adore the T’s and R’s but I feel the N/A is easier to live with and in this form is plenty potent for most scenarios and once again a shrewdly bought one (my compression is still bang on at 162k) is excellent bangernomics . Sorry this is a bit long !
Sometimes I think the best part of the show is the carpark, this proves it, great spots.
I agree. What’s more, if it’s a paid event, you can save money by not going in!
A PetrolBlog money saving tip!
My Father in Law has a Tribeca (he lives in California where the Tribeca sold in rather bigger numbers than over here). It might have looks that not even it’s mother could love, but I thought it was actually quite a nice car. The flat six engine sounds a little like a 911 under load too which helps.
Hard to doubt that it’s a good car to be honest, I’ve got a lot of time for Subaru. The soundtrack is an added bonus.
Strangely, after never seeing one in the wild before, a day after I posted this blog, I saw one in Waitrose car park.
So the Tribeca is a like a bus in more ways than one…
You’re lucky you never saw a Subaru Tribeca before!
They are all over the States, along with even worse looking cars, inevitably called “sport” utility vehicles. They are in general completely unsporty, slow and worse than a minivan or regular van. In the winter you can see hapless owners stranded in the snow from their false sense of control. I have no idea why people buy them in the first place or who those people are; I’d like to keep it that way…
There are much better, more convenient and better looking cars available. At least Subaru Tribeca buyers have more taste than Pontiac Aztec buyers, but that’s not saying much.
Ah, the Pontiac Aztek. I think that’s the first and probably last time it has been mentioned on PetrolBlog! 😉